Three has improved massively since 2016 say Rootmetrics

31 Jul 2017 by James Rogerson

One thing you want with a mobile network is for it to improve over time, and that’s certainly something Three is doing, as a comprehensive study of UK mobile networks has shown that Three has made huge strides, including coming out on top for calls and reliability.

The study, conducted by RootMetrics, was for the first half of 2017 and involved collecting almost 650,000 test samples from right across the UK, as well as over 600 indoor locations, so it’s about as accurate as any UK-wide network test could be.

Three Came Out Top for Reliability and Calls

Across the UK as a whole Three was top for reliability and calls, as well as coming second for data and overall performance. That’s a very strong result, and a big improvement over the second half of 2016, where the network didn’t come first for anything. This is also the very first time Three has ever been top for calls in RootMetrics’ UK-wide tests.

The graph below shows how Three earns UK RootScore Award for network reliability:

The report notes also that Three’s performance is likely to get even stronger once its 4G coverage improves, so there’s a good chance the network will be topping even more categories next year.

That’s the takeaway for the UK as a whole, but RootMetrics also looked at countries individually and Three was strong there too.

It came top for reliability in England, Scotland and Wales, where in the second half of 2016 it only won in Wales (and it was a joint victory with another network), so there were big improvements here too.

Best Overall Network in Scotland and Wales

Three was also the best overall network in both Scotland and Wales, having never won any overall awards at national level before. And it was the best for calls in Wales, as well as being joint best for calls in England and Scotland. That’s another improvement, as Three didn’t win any national call awards in the previous test period.

In all Three won eight awards at the national level in this report, up from just one in the second half of 2016. That’s a huge improvement, the biggest of any network in fact (with Vodafone being the only other network to show any improvement in awards numbers at nation-level).

Three in Indivudual Cities

Going even smaller scale, RootMetrics also looked at performance in individual cities, for which Three almost doubled its rewards total from 20 in the second half of 2016 to 39 now (see above).

Metro Area Perfomance

Three was rated the best overall network in seven metro areas this testing period, specifically Bristol, Cardiff, Glasgow, Hull, Leeds and Bradford, Newcastle and Nottingham. That’s a massive jump up from zero overall awards for cities in late 2016, and puts it ahead of both O2 and Vodafone.

Three was also strong again for reliability and calls, coming first for reliability in 13 cities and first for calls in 14, showing improvements in just about every area.

Takeaway

The takeaway from all this is that Three is a significantly stronger network than it was just six months ago, and that it’s seemingly improving at a faster rate than any rival. That’s great news if you’re a Three customer, because it suggests that good as the network is now, things are only going to get better.